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Browse by Artist: MONOSOV/SWIRNOFF/HABITAT SOUND SYSTEM


Artist: MONOSOV/SWIRNOFF/HABITAT SOUND SYSTEM
Title: Five Recorded Works: Volume 3
Label: ECLIPSE RECORDS
Format: LP
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: ECLIP 052LP
"California sound artists Ilya Monosov and Preston Swirnoff return with two more sonic labyrinths stretched over disparate terrain. As on their previous albums, Monosov and Swirnoff cast boundaries to the wind. Disillusioned and wise to the ways of the world, the duo not only succeeds in propping up the shambolic planet they created on Recorded Works Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, but also in soaring toward the furthest reaches of distant suns. Blurring the line between composition and improvisation, these new installments are rare, unearthed gems. Volume 3 begins with dancing shadows and acoustic myopia. Monosov's minimal vocals lead Swirnoff's piano ramblings deeper into the cerebral maze, inadvertently finding the best route out. Setting off the shaky delicacy of the opener and Side A closer, 'Repeat Again' (with enchanting vocals from Naomi) are the raucous, industrial rhythms of 'Snake Lust' and 'Fly Away.' The Indian-inspired drones of 'With Charles Curtis' top the whole thing off with cinematic splendor. Monosov and Swirnoff manage to seamlessly mesh these ideas into a cohesive whole." --Brad Rose. Edition of 500 copies.


Artist: MONOSOV/SWIRNOFF/HABITAT SOUND SYSTEM
Title: Split LP: Volume 4
Label: ECLIPSE RECORDS
Format: LP
Price: $14.00
Catalog #: ECLIP 053LP
" Where Volume 3 is steeped in elegiac drones and tones, Volume 4 turns off the main road and heads toward a fuzzed-out oblivion. This record is actually a split between the Monosov/Swirnoff duo and their band Habitat Sound System. Opener 'Needle's Eye' throws back to Side B of Volume 2 and another Monosov/Swirnoff band, The Shining Path. With spaced-out hints of Les Rallizes Denudes, this is a cosmic transport into the stratosphere. The other duo track, 'Desire Sings Just One True Song,' is the antithesis of 'Needle's Eye.' Unplugged and methodic, it unfolds like an impulsive narrative where the ending seems as unlikely as the storyline. Organic drones of hurdy gurdy, harmonic, and bowed banjo meander over streams of abstract percussion. It pours perfectly into a dub-infused rhythm that closes out the side. Habitat Sound System pick up this theme with impressive ease with four tracks straight from the Kingston underground. Smoke-filled jams sound as though they've been hibernating all winter complete with horns, synthesizers, organs, and more. In the Habitat Sound System, it never rains, only shines." --Brad Rose. Edition of 500 copies.


Artist: MONOSOV/SWIRNOFF/HABITAT SOUND SYSTEM
Title: Seven Recorded Works: Volume 1
Label: ECLIPSE RECORDS
Format: LP
Price: $13.00
Catalog #: ECLIP IM/PS1
"The sound of two souls, all alone in claustrophobically infinite space. These two volumes see disenchanted Californians Ilya Monosov and Preston Swirnoff whittling out their own autonomous spaces far from the surf and sun, then climbing in and nailing the door firmly shut behind them. Seven Recorded Works comes over like someone has leached the spirits of Ennio Morricone, Eric Satie and Pauline Oliveros, stuffed them in a leaky wooden barrel, and set them rolling out to sea on a spring riptide. Uncertain, hesitant piano and melodica miniatures undercut with the evil drone of harmonica and hurdy-gurdy. It's a creaking and queasy trip, guaranteed to heave underwater, piratical nightmares out of some long suppressed substream of your subconscious." - Alan Cummings. Edition of 500 copies.


Artist: MONOSOV/SWIRNOFF/HABITAT SOUND SYSTEM
Title: Two Recorded Works: Volume 2
Label: ECLIPSE RECORDS
Format: LP
Price: $13.00
Catalog #: ECLIP IM/PS2
"Two Recorded Works opens in equally brooding, cinematic fashion with Swirnoff's 'air organ' slow gasping its weighted way through magenta dust-clouds of bowed guitar. Later, sea-shanty bellows underscore the spectral traces of whistles and ghosted vocals and whistles to particularly melancholic effect. But the final side, credited to Monosov and Swirnoff's rock unit The Shining Path, is a whole other kettle of herring. It rockets upwards into the fuzzed out expansive zones of the Rallizes sound, but is tethered to an on-edge, speedfreak shake of a Suicide rhythm, just too fast for comfort. Bliss handily circumvented, higher mind tied to delerium tremens. I think they're trying to tell us something." - Alan Cummings. Edition of 500 copies.

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